i found this game very interesting with a huge potential but being an alpha i'd like to ask: is the game going to be more and more complex, are you going to add stuff and features, or most of the functions are already there and you're going just to fix the code?



i mean, while civ5 is just too little and aurora too much, i'd settle for no less than a galciv2+exps kind of complexity, or at least something on the lines of the civ4 mods "fall from heaven 2" and "rise of mankind".

right now i feel some aspects are lacking.

like the absence of espionage, the abstract ground combat, or the small numbers of random events.



you built a rather interesting combat system but it's underused because there aren't enough weapons and modules to tinker with: are they going to be expanded? even "simple" stuff like "this huge railgun is extremely powerful at long range but utterly useless in mid and short" or "this boarding module does +xxx damage during the short range phase" could greatly widen the strategies available.



races: i know you're working on more, but could an editor be added too? in moo3 and galciv2 even tailoring one own's race was fun, weighting bonii and mali until we got our perfect race. no need to give this race in the hands of the ai, which apparently can't handle them, and also no need to make them available to multiplayer if you fear for balance.



random quests: in ffh2 and rom they are just lovable, they add to the rythm of the game, give more goals and differentiate games, here in es you don't even have to split them by era. "build 5 more ships", "colonize 2 more planets", "import or own the x commodity", "declare war", "conquer planet x".

even better are multiple-choices events which furtherly shape the empire, ffh2 and galciv2 had the best.



stuff like this can be added without adding to complexity.

what would to it, instead, is the already mentioned espionage system. even something as basic as civ4 beyond the sword could be enough. something a bit more, like the one in alpha centauri would be ideal but then it becomes difficult for the ai.

thinking about it, the idea of a spy ship is pretty dumb. maybe spies could be treated like heroes who have to be planted in enemy systems, every turn they add to an enemy specific pool of points (visible in the system info and in the diplomacy tab where the espionage functions could be inserted, right there or in a sub/nested menu or even among the diplomatic choices) which then can be spent to try to accomplish missions like rising local/total unrest, blocking productions, souring/improving relations, counter-espionage (removing from enemy espionage pool, looking for enemy's spies and such).

chance of success depends on a new empire value, "espionage".



right now combat feels like "bring the biggest guns, nothing else matters". what if we had formations (ships on the front are attacked first)? just this brings a lot of new possibilities. what if formations could give fleet-wide and/or position specific bonii? example: bombard formation, 10 ships max, 6 min on the front line; back line gets +10% accuracy during long and middle range phases.

big bombard formation: 15 max, 9 min front. same bonus.

wedge formation: 9 ships max, all front; -10% dodge chance, +10% damage during short range phase.

scattered formation: no requisites, no bonus.

the first two formations require at least two different designs, but the more rules a single formation has the more are needed. specific rules could encourage the usage of expensive modules (which have to be added to the game yet, stuff like "cloaking device: 5% evade to ship" which goes on pair with the formation "cloaking field: 5 max, if all the ships have cloaking device the whole fleet gets +10% more).

such stuff would need just a single more pop-up window after the "create fleet" button is pressed, grid in the middle (or at least two lines), available ships to drag and drop to the right and formation explanation with drop-down menu to chose which one to the left. and while it'd please those who look for complexity is not going to damage much who wants a simpler game who's going to just click on "scattered formation" and not care.

to easen the load on ai, some of the simplest formations could be set to them as mandatory.



more buildings? wouldn't hurt much, especially if "wonders". they could be not only "one of a kind" but also "one for empire", as important stepstones in the empire history.



more ship chassises (?): with weapon/role specific bonii. and more equipment.

have i said already "i'd like more equipment"? if not: i'd like more equipment. ships need variety. badly.



can be groud combat made with an entirely different structure requiring troop ships and troops? this could go well with formations (troop ships would be more defended), but maybe i'm asking too much. even if i'd very very really definitely love this.



with all these additions, the tech tree, as much as eye-candy-friendly it is, definitely needs to be redone. it's just tedious to hover the mouse over each and every icon to discover what it does, move around, zoom in and out, look here and there. the search function is useful but not much in a game full of technobabble.

if you're fond of this one, just add a button "view as ..." for a more streamlined version. maybe a "view only x branch" which in turn gets shown by itself, going from left to right, like the average civ's one.

regarding the tech tree: mix and match. it's a bit dull as-is, weapons techs net only new weapons, colonizations tech net only new colonizations stuff... now think how many things can be done with a laser: weapon, surgery, mining, sculpting, holograms... a new shield could help live better in hostile environments, while a new economic regime could require another, bigger trade ship.

this brings two other issues: trade ships, trade lanes, trading in general. deepen it, as much as making an economic empire almost as viable as a militaristic one.

also: more scaled colonialism. "now you can't live on lava planets at all, tomorrow you can as they're your home planet" is terrible. i'm not asking for something as complicated as moo3 (where every race had different standards for "habitable" and terraforming was done slowly), but at least the more extreme planets habitats should give some sort of malus. this is the problem with science fiction: its fans require a verisimilar environment.



more chatty ais: sometimes i get the "this guy hates you" message. is that it? call me, tell me what's wrong (galciv2 does it) or at least threaten me (most probably you're already working on this). on the other hand, if you don't hate me, call me and let's seal a deal. for as simple, basic, random, small and short-termed this deal can be, it will enlive the game.





while i played i was thinking surely of more stuff, but i wrote so much i forgot it eventually ^^'